Scared Tim
by Quinis
Summary: Tim has a fear. His brothers are brothers and do what any good family member does when they discover one of their own has an almost crippling fear. One-Shot


**Notes:** So, this story is based off a prompt from parimalik:

 _"This one is like tim having a fear of either snakes or lizards(don't really care which) and the bat am helps him get over it. Being the middle child he's quite discreet bc no one really pays attentio to him therefore he is able to hide his fear. One day however he encounters his fear and jason notices that tim starts being a little bit clingy and shying away from where that reptile is bu isn't quite sire what to make of it. Damian than decides he wants a pet snake or lizard_  
 _( of the larger kind) and radon again and this time even d*** and bruce notice tat tim goes pale and starts shaking. Jason realizes that tim probably is afraid of them finally when they're maybe watching an episode of fear factor. jASON SETS THIS UP FOR THE FAM ON PURPOSE BEVASUE HE WANTS TO CONFIRM WHETER OR not tim has a phobia. A scene involving the reptile comes on and by tim response it's clear that he's scared. After they calm tim down jason talks to bruce aboutt how they should help him get over the fear via flooding (one method psychologists use) and bruce agrees and also informs d*** and damian of the plan . They have damien go select what he wants from the pet store and bring the animal home and in time room. Tim takes one look and tries to run but is caught by jason. They pull tim into masons lap with bruce next to them and sooth tim and get him to hold the lizard or snake tim is still scared to death but eventuallyy realizes that his family won't let anything happen to him."_

I kind of missed a few things from the prompt because this is the story which popped into my head when I read the prompt. Hope you like it!

* * *

 **Scared Tim**

* * *

They were tiny and slimy. Their bodies and tails wriggled and they were so easy to hurt.

Tim hated how easy they were to hurt. A touch and their tail came off and it was so slimy and wriggly and possibly germ-filled that it started a feeling like something crawling in Tim's chest and sent shudders up his spine.

Tim hated tiny lizards. The big ones were fine, they were big. The small ones made him cringe. So fragile, so _ugh_!

But, Tim was a vigilante. He was Red Robin. He knew Batman. He couldn't be afraid of tiny lizards.

Tiny lizards. It sounded ridiculous when said.

At least Tim could hide it. Leave lights on to scare them away. Stay indoors. Stay cool. Lizards didn't like the cold. Clean. A lot. Keeping them out was the best plan.

It was fine. It wasn't like there were many lizards in Gotham. It was fine.

* * *

"Oh my-" Tim's voice was so high in pitch that he couldn't vocalise the rest of his exclamation.

Breathe, he reminded himself. He sucked in a breath and held it.

Now out.

He ended up almost hiccuping the air out, sucking in another breath immediately after. This was no good. He couldn't breathe.

"Hey, Red!" Jason snapped at him, shocking his vision away from the little creature scurrying around.

"Ye-yes?" Tim internally scolded himself for getting distracted. For letting a little... discomfort distract him from the mission.

"Did you see that?"

Tim tried not to panic. Now Jason would know that he hadn't been paying attention to their stake-out. He would be mad.

After a moment, Jason continued. He wasn't the type to wait for an answer.

"I think I saw some lights inside. Wanna go crash the party?"

Tim thought that was a crazy idea. They didn't have a lot of information. It could be a trap.

Before he could answer, he felt something on his leg.

Little. Tiny. Legs. He felt them push lightly at his leg.

A crawl shivered up his spine. His body stiffened. He bit down a cry and looked down.

There it was. The tiny lizard.

Jason watched all of this with a curious expression. He had noticed the Replacement's strange behaviour from before but didn't think much of it until now. Usually there would be customary warnings of traps and recommendations to get more information. But, now Tim was silent and frozen.

Tim's expression was stretched and stiff. Jason followed his gaze. For a moment he couldn't see it.

"Is that a lizard?" he questioned, picking it up off Tim's leg.

Tim instantly relaxed. Underneath his hood, Jason raised an eyebrow. Odd.

"Let's go," Tim said, jumping off their perch. Jason watched in disbelief before putting the lizard down and following after him.

Tim never went in without a plan. Jason usually had to talk him into going in in the first place and after he convinced Tim to 'crash the party', then they would come up with a plan.

Tim never just leapt.

Jason didn't forget about the moment Tim froze. Or the little lizard.

* * *

Which is why, when he caught wind of some animal smugglers who also had lizards, Jason Todd requested that the Batman Family help.

"I want to make sure none of the animals are hurt in the fight," he lied to excuse his odd behaviour of actually requesting assistance beforehand and not during or after or not at all.

What he had been after was the exact moment he could pick up a terrarium filled with little lizards and hand it to Damian for safekeeping. Probably too many lizards for the small terrarium.

"Huh, thought I saw something under it," he mused while Damian demanded he be allowed to take the lizards home.

Jason got a glare from everyone except Damian for that one.

* * *

The lizards were set up in the cave. Damian bought a few more terrariums to put the lizards in so they would be comfortable and tried to name them all before he realised it was too confusing and difficult to tell them apart.

However, he did declare one to be 'Bat-lizard', which had its own terrarium placed in the brat's room.

Jason started insisting that he and Red Robin return to the Bat Cave to see Alfred/talk to Dick/analyse something after their missions together.

It didn't take long for him to notice peculiarities in Tim's behaviour. Tim never went anywhere near the terrariums. He tried to stay as far away from them as possible.

The few times he (playfully!) shoved Tim towards them, the kid went pale and certainly looked shinier when he moved away. As well as sweating, Tim seemed to breath irregularly but, the kid was good at hiding it. It took three goes for Jason to notice.

Dick noticed the second time. He gave Jason a strange look.

Bruce noticed the third time. He frowned thoughtfully.

There was a lot of discussion in the cave over the following days.

* * *

Tim hated it. It was just another torture Damian had brought into his life.

He just had to glance over at the 'wall of lizards' and shivers would run down his back. His chest would stutter. The lizards did not actually take up the whole wall but it sure felt like it.

Tim hated it. He hated it, hated it, _hated it_. His skin shuddered, his breath shuddered, his whole body rejected the very idea that these creatures were crawling around the cave.

They had gotten inside.

Tim felt like throwing up.

He wasn't happy when Bruce called him down the Bat Cave, his least favourite place at the moment. Tim had tried to get out of it.

"No, Tim. We cannot discuss this over the phone. I want you in front of me, thank you."

Tim suppressed a whimper as he walked into the cave. The terrariums sent a glow out from their area which Tim tried to ignore.

Focus on Bruce. He walked over to the man standing in front of the Batcomputer and stood between Jason and Dick, who were also waiting.

"Okay, I'm here. What is it?" he asked.

"Don't attack me," Jason said as he dropped down around Tim's shoulders, immobilising him in his grip. Tim would almost call it a hug.

"Why not?" he demanded to know. He didn't fight back. Jason was warm and smelt of smoke and Gotham. His jacket shaded Tim's sides. Tim had to admit, it was weird but nice.

"Probably because this next part... won't be pleasant," Dick admitted as he ran a hand through Tim's hair.

"What?" Tim felt a niggling of worry in his gut. Damian walked up at that moment with a terrarium in his hands.

"Father, are you certain this is a good idea. It seems unnecessarily cruel," he commented. After a moment, he half-heartedly added, "to the lizards, I mean."

Tim realised what was happening. They had found out! He tugged and pulled, trying to escape from Jason's arms.

"No, no, no," he murmured as Bruce picked up one of the lizards. He squeezed his eyes shut and froze as Bruce placed it on his shoulder. Tim stopped breathing as he felt it crawl down his back.

"It's okay, it won't hurt you," Dick quietly murmured in his ear, his breath tickling.

"Breathe, Tim," Jason said, giving him a squeeze.

"I hate this," Damian muttered from somewhere below and close. Another lizard was attached to Tim, this time on his leg.

"In and out, Tim," Bruce said in an encouraging tone, "in and out."

Tim whined and he felt Dick's hand through his hair again.

"It's okay," Dick said. "We're all here. We won't let them hurt you."

"They're just lizards," Damian stated as he placed another two on Tim's lower arms. One crawled up and over Jason's jacket.

"Hey! That tickles!" Jason grumbled. Tim could almost feel the glare Jason sent the youngest's way.

"-tt-. Maybe you should be listening to Grayson, Todd. They won't hurt you."

"Hmm. Damian give me a lizard," Dick said.

"Don't you dare." Tim stumbled as Jason pulled him away a little.

Tim could hear Dick's quiet and short maniacal chuckle as he moved closer. A moment later...

"Gah!" Jason grumbled and spat. "That's my nose, you idiot!"

Even Tim had to chuckle at that. His eyes opened a crack to see Damian smirking at Jason while pulling out another lizard to hand to Dick, who was grinning a grin that meant trouble.

Bruce was further back, shaking his head at them all.

Tim paused at the flash of blond out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, boys! What are you doing?" Steph asked as she came rushing over. She looked them over, the lizard in Dick's hand wriggling noticeably. "Lizards?" There was a pause. "Cool!" She reached out and plucked one from the terrarium before Damian could pull away.

"Leave my lizards alone, Fatgirl!" Damian growled. Cass reached over him and plucked out another one, examining it like she hadn't see a lizard before.

"Hey, Cass," Jason greeted the quieter of the two. Cass gave him an acknowledging nod and placed a lizard on her hand, poking at it. The lizard would find its way down Dick's shirt later on.

Steph just placed her lizard on Tim's other shoulder with an innocent grin.

"A Robin and a lizard, somehow, I'm just not seeing it," she said. "You should just get yourself a bird and become a pirate."

"Pirates spend months at sea, right?" Damian questioned. "You should become a pirate, Drake. I'll even get you a bird."

"No," Tim responded, the first word he had spoken since this ordeal had started. Strangely enough, with his family around and acting like... themselves, he had almost forgotten the lizards crawling around.


End file.
